One of Myanmar’s top tourist attractions, an Inle Lake tour is best taken with a local who can reveal the unique way of life there. Inle Lake is the second largest lake in Myanmar after Indawgyi Lake, located in northern Shan State – a 22 km long valley-set, silvery-blue water basin at 884 metres above sea level (2900 ft) that snakes into tiny canals with miniature hand-built dams. In the main town of Nyaung Shwe, the sound of motorboats signals the arrival of a new dawn, where tourists flock to the main pier to embark on day trips. Touring Inle Lake in a wooden longtail boat is one of the top ..read more

Travel to Taiwan is underrated, and the island in the East China Sea is relatively unknown. Here are the best places to visit in Taiwan to see it differently. Underrated and rarely spoken about, travelling in Taiwan was put on the radar after I met a woman called Marie during my travels in India five years ago. Born and raised in the capital city of Taipei before moving to the USA with her family in her teens, she’s spent years telling me incredible stories of her home town, the culture she left behind and (like many of my Asian friends) the food. Her plethora of memories brought to life the l ..read more

From historical sites to nature and art spaces, here are the places to visit in Beijing, China, to see it from a different perspective. When visiting Beijing, three sites are given – The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. In most guidebooks, it’s almost always stated that without this holy trinity of tourist must-dos ticked off the list, you haven’t experienced Beijing. While there is more than this, you may have limited time in Beijing as you plan a trip around China to see as much as possible in a short time frame. I spent around 12 days in Beijing, and I loved digging into ..read more

Planning a trip to Iceland? Here’s how and where to find the hotspots and highlights that give this country its unique identity. Your first introduction to Iceland is how otherworldly it looks. I remember the plane slowly sweeping over a landscape that looked like Mars as it approached the runway; its dark brown rocky surface and crater-like perforations created excitement amongst the many explorers pushing their faces against the cabin glass windows as if they were landing on another planet. Iceland really does feel like another world. Even the bright light of the ‘Midnight Sun’ kept me in aw ..read more

Here’s why a homestay in Southeast Asia is the best way to understand local culture and what you can typically expect from the experience. If you like understanding the local culture more deeply, as well as meeting, interacting and living with locals to do so, then a homestay in Southeast Asia might be a worthwhile experience beyond the temple hopping trails and hostel stays.  My first homestay was on Dong Deng (one of the 4,000 islands in Laos). I continued in the hill tribe villages in Thailand, living locally on a trek in Myanmar and staying in a community homestay village near Panulti ..read more

Outer capital cities are usually a residential sprawl, but a Helsinki bike tour charts a route through a trove of vast green and conservation areas. Helsinki is an attractive, contemporary and super stylish city; an easy-to-navigate collection of pretty architecture and fashionable outlets, broken up by parkland and a boat port which can transport you to the neighbouring islands, such as Seurasaari, in minutes.  Compact in size but not short on attractions, city wandering is a must, yet it’s easy to focus on the centre of a capital city and forget about the wider area surrounding it. In s ..read more

The Kili trek is no mean feat but can be a triumph when a trekker is fully prepared. Use this Kilimanjaro packing list to help you on the road to a comfortable and successful climb. When climbing Africa’s tallest freestanding mountain, you will be trekking across a full spectrum of ecosystems and weather conditions, so it is vital to be prepared for the extremes – hot and sunny, cloudy and chilly, rainy and windy and snow and minus temperature chill. You may encounter all this in one day, so prep via layers and an accessible full set of trekking wear limits feeling uncomfortable and miserable ..read more

Riverside parks and vineyards guide you, while quiet lanes tucked away from main roads wind you through the green and yellow countryside and scattered rural hamlets. Here’s how to embark on a Loire Valley bike tour and lose yourself in daydreams of bygone centuries. The Loire Valley is accessible even for the most casual of bikers. This trip marked the first time I cycled so many kilometres over a number of consecutive days and the first time cycling in France. I covered 100 kilometres, eased out over five days with two leisurely days wedged in between, and ploughed through the rigorous parts ..read more

This guide to the best neighbourhoods in Athens highlights the different areas of Greece’s capital beyond only touring the ancient sites. “I didn’t like Athens” is something I hear all too often, but I soon worked out why people couldn’t summon up much love for it – they hadn’t spent enough time getting to know it, especially since the average time spent here is 24 hours on the way to an island. Or because people stay in the heart of the tourist area of Monastiraki without straying far from it, not knowing that just a few streets away is the allure of an emerging, changing city.  Athens i ..read more

A 79 square kilometre blanket of flora and fauna, where towering monoliths of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains protrude through a thick forest canopy, Bohemian Switzerland National Park in the Czech Republic is a wild nature haven with well-marked trails. This hiking guide shows you where to go and how to see its magnificence beyond the famed Pravcicka Gate archway. The Czech Republic’s heritage isn’t just in its major cities, iconic spa towns and southern wine lands. Bohemian Switzerland National Park, on the northern borders just 90 minutes from Prague, is one of its greatest natural assets and ..read more